Join us this weekend at the Canandaigua Wine Walk

Jim and I will be pouring wine for Standing Stone Vineyards this Saturday April 2 from 4-7 at the Finger Lakes Gallery and Frame 175 S. Main Street, Canandaigua. You can buy glasses and join the Canandaigua Wine Walk at any of the merchants hosting the wineries (Pat Rini Rohrer, Bubilu, New York, New York, Pickering Pub) Think about it - we'd love to see you!

JR Dill we finally meet!

We finally made it to the J.R. Dill Winery today and talked to Jeff (the J. in J.R.) while Jimmy Buffet serenaded us in the background. While we tasted the wines in our J.R. Dill glasses (that we could take home after the tasting), we discussed the beautiful Seneca Lake glass bar-top and how J.R. got started. It was a hobby gone wild while economic times offered the opportunity and voila! 8 months ago J.R. Dill Winery was born. We enjoyed tasting the 5 wines: Cab Franc, Dechaunac, Chardonnay, Riesling and Jabber Waulkie Blush. All were dry with the Jabber Waulkie being the "sweetest" at 3.7% residual sugar. We bought the blush and the Chardonnay (unoaked - aged in stainless steel and very clean, crisp and fruit forward). We will definately return! P.S. - the Jabber Waulkie is the monster of Seneca Lake!

Damiani Wine Cellars Compares their Cab Sauv to the World!

How does Damiani's Cab Sauv compare to old world and new world Cab Sauvs? Last weekend they hosted a Blind Tasting in which Damiani's 07 Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon was compared to Cab Sauvs from Australia, Northern Italy, France, Argentina and California. A crisp,but sunny spring day was the setting and the new Damiani tasting room on the East side of Seneca Lake was the place. Tables were set up in the lower level (which still has a gorgeous view of the lake) for the tasters. A large table with food pairings (sliced meats, peppers, chocolates and cheeses) was available to compliment the nuances in the wine. And so we began. Wines A, B and C were poured and we sniffed, eyed, swirled, pondered, tasted, pondered some more and eventually rated each wine. Terms such as: fruit forward, earthy, minty, minerally were thrown about and the consensus of the group was that these were new world wines. Sure enough, it was revealed that one was a $12.oo Argentine wine - 2008 Mendoza, another Australian - Cover Drive 2007 ($22.00) and the other from California- 2005 Sensorium ($35.00). Next came bottles D,E,F and the process repeated. These wines, 2 of which were old world: 2005 Chateau d'Issan Margaux at $74.oo a bottle and a 1999 Swansburg Castel (?) at $40.00 a bottle, were deeper in color, peppery and delicious. The third wine of this group was the Damiani 2007 Barrel Select at $30.00 a bottle. It was interesting to find out that Cab Sauv grapes originated from Sauv Blanc and Cab Franc vines! So what were the favorites? The French, the Italian and the Damiani. Yay!
Meeting new people, getting educated and drinking great wines, what better way to spend a March afternoon? There are more events coming up at Damiani's: April 24th a Merlot tasting, May 22 - Riesling, June 6 - Sauv Blanc and July 24 - Pinot Gris. Other reds will be tasted in the fall. Thank-you, Damiani Wine Cellars!